I saw a really cool thing today.  There were two teenage boys riding bikes along the side of the road.  Nothing unusual about that in our little town.  As I passed by, the car in front of me pulled to the side of the road, stopping for a funeral procession.  Again, nothing unusual about that. I slowed to a stop as well and waited in a long line of cars paying respects to the dead. 

What was a surprise to me, was that the boys both stopped their bikes, and took off their hats as the procession passed by. These boys obviously were not old enough to drive.  They were probably out enjoying their last day before school starts. (Though riding bikes in 100-degree heat would not be my choice of a fun day.) They were not clean cut kids.  Some might even say that they looked a little like trouble makers with long hair, and piercing all over. Yet here they were honoring a total stranger.  I was taken aback by this show of respect.

I think that many times we jump to conclusions about people from appearances, especially young people. I know I do. This is unfair judgment on our part because appearances can be deceiving.  Every one deserves a chance to show her/himself for who they are…before we size them up.  We should reserve our judgments and try to see beyond how someone looks.  As school starts tomorrow, I am reminded of this lesson from watching these boys stand in the heat.  Until the very end of the procession they stood, heads slightly bowed hats over hearts.  It was a simple show of humanity, which we do not often attribute to preteens. It was an important lesson that reminded me to dig deeper with my students and to look beyond clothes, and hair to the heart. 

I am back at work full time. And my new graduate class started yesterday. We have had a busy week with back to school conferences with parents on Monday.  I worked 8:00 am- 8:00 pm.  It is a grueling day but meeting with each parent individually gives valuable information BEFORE school starts.  Today we had our county wide meeting and it was a hoot as always.  We really have a great county.  The community supports us...this week all the banks take turns providing meals and little gifts like calendars.  We got to see and hear about all the new teachers today.  Each year there seem to be more as our county grows.  Our school is still on the look out for a 5th grade teacher and a 3rd grade teacher...so if you know anyone that needs a teaching job send them our way.  Tomorrow we have staff pictures and I. D.s will be made then meetings.  We had the afternoon in our rooms today and I got to clean out two years of stuff.  I am a long way from being finished.  My things were moved so many times while I was sick that I don't even know what I have.  I plan to use this whole year to purge and get rid of stuff I haven't used in a while.  Overall it is a busy week.  Another UTI slowed me down some. It is my second since surgery.  Hey, wasn't this surgery supposed to fix this???  So far it hasn't worked.  I plan to see yet another doctor in a week or two...a urologist this time.  Other than that all is well.  I am exhausted from being back in the grind.  Kids go back on Thursday...

I have a favorite tree.  It stands alone in a rolling pasture on the highest hill.  Surrounded by waving green grass it looks like the guardian of the land.  There is a chocolate fence that encloses grazing horses.  The shade of the tree brings them relief and they gather around.  A mountain with all the greens of summertime stands over the tree.  It is a picturesque view.  It makes me wonder…what has that tree been witness to?  How many primitive people stood in its shade?  If that tree could talk what stories, would it tell?  I think that about all trees because I love old things.  It is my historical side coming through.  I have a curious streak that has me wondering and often imagining things of the past; how they came to be, what happened at a certain place…my mind can take off at such thoughts.

 I think that it is interesting that God uses tiny seeds to bring about ancient trunks.  In our microwave world, God is a farmer.  He never rushes, yet he is always on time. Nature does not strive, and the trees prove that. God is patient. His definition of patience and ours are different.  If you have ever prayed for patience you already know this.  Two years seems like forever for us, but in the life of a tree it is nothing.  God plans and plants.  He nurtures to bring forth the fruit in the right season.

 And what can we learn from the trees? They start as acorns or seed pods lying on the ground.  They begin to sprout and their roots dig down.  Before you know it, a small seedling stands where the seed once was, and after that a sapling.  Over years, the tree grows taller and straighter by reaching for the sun and digging roots deep. Trees get stronger as they mature. They produce fruit of one kind or another.  They can buffet the winds of storms.  They provide shade and homes for animals.  The beauty of their branches reaching towards heaven reminds us to look up. 

In many ways, we are like the trees.  Starting small and growing to maturity.  God is not worried about if we will make it to our full height.  He does not loose sleep over if our roots will dig deep or shallow.  He is a farmer with a plan.  He sees all of what we will become as part of his design. Eventually our arms will rise, in praise to him.  We will learn to weather storms with flexibility and grace.  We will provide safe shelter for those that are weary. Fruit will come forth in our lives in the right season.  He has created us for this…and he always finishes what he starts.  Just look at the trees.     

Yesterday was a stressful day.  I had forgotten.  It didn't help that I was at a training about new changes to a system we have been using for years.  Change is always hard and when your already heavy workload is increased it becomes overwhelming.  There were tears...not just from me...as we heard all that we will have to add to what we already do.  Hard day.  But after lunch we were able to suck it up and move on.  That is something that teachers are good at.  We resist change and new things for minutes...then we buckle down and get the job done.  Ultimately this new system will be better...if some new person at the state level doesn't change it first!  I guess that was my welcome back to work day...

Hi ho hi ho it's off to work I go.  Today is the first day for me!  I am back in the saddle full time wheeeeee!

Siege- the act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies, for the purpose of lessening the resistance of the defenders and thereby making capture possible.

When your physical heart is blocked, there is a build up of years of unhealthy living that slows the blood flow.  The heart pumps, but it is hindered from fully functioning.  Over time, the blocked artery can cause damage…even death, if it is not attended.  The heart is handicapped.  The life-blood ceases to flow properly and fatigue is the result.  Our heart gets tired so blood pressure rises to compensate.  The circulation is cut off from some parts of our body causing numbness. Eventually, severe pain causes us to seek help.  This serious problem must be addressed.

Our spiritual hearts are no different.  It does not matter if you do not know the Lord or have known him for years.  We sin.  We choose, not fully comprehending how deadly that choice can be.  Over time, we will become numb to the effects of our sin.  It impedes the life that God is so desperately trying to pump into our spirit.  Sometimes we wait until the pain is so great we feel we will explode before going to our source of life.  The oxygen carried by the blood is the Holy Spirit.  It is life.  When we allow Jesus in to our spiritual heart, his blood washes away the blockages.  It flushes our system of the toxic waste that sin causes.  The unforgiveness, bitterness, and selfishness are removed, being replaced with humility and compassion.   Anything that blocks us from receiving God’s love is taken, allowing us to once again experience the flow.  Our lives are revived, and renewed. Grace abounds.   

I use this story to show that God wants to bring down the walls we have built up.  He has laid siege to our hearts.  He longs to break through the blockages.  He knows we are well fortified in our hardness of heart and he has a plan to break through.  His methods may seem unconventional but if we trust him, the battle will be over quickly and he will root out the darkness.  He will give us the land.  Our hearts will no longer be divided.  We will not battle to keep hidden secrets once he has blasted the clogging muck that hinders us.  The sin that the enemy has worked so hard for us to become entrapped in will be shown for what it is.  The blood of the Lord will flow, pumping, pumping, pumping…life.    

The dictionary says that to believe means to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so.  At school, our classroom motto is “believe.”  My co-teacher and I want our students to be confident that what we say is true.  They can learn.  More importantly, we want them to know for themselves…not just because we say it…that it is true.  This one little word, believe, is a powerful one.  It is a wonderful moment when we hear one student tell another…”just believe.”  It means that they have been listening.  It means that they are starting the hear the word in their own heads instead of coming from our mouths.  This is when the power of the word becomes real.

A friend of mine recently had a bad report from doctors.  Actually, I have 5 friends…some of them strangers…that are battling with life threatening diseases. It seems my cancer is now serving a purpose; to encourage others that are just beginning their battle.  In these battles, it is important to believe.  Believe in God’s sovereignty; in your own God-designed spirit, and in the future hope you have in Jesus.  As we all know, there are not easy answers in life.  The questions are hard ones.  The fears are real ones.  However, when we believe, our focus shifts from our circumstances to our will to fight and God’s ability to overcome.  We have hope and in that, we become over comers.  It is true with my students in the classroom, and it is true in life.  Just Believe.

I have had concerns that when I went to the dentist for a check up that my teeth were all going to be rotten.  I have dreaded this day because when I was having chemo I had mouth problems.  My gums hurt and my teeth were sore.  I could almost feel the decay setting in...or at least I thought so.  Today I went to the dentist and I only had one cavity...the one that I didn't get filled last year because of my treatments.  I feel like a little kid being this excited over no cavities.  One small one and that is it.  No new ones...that I think, is a miracle.

            Have you ever thought of God as playful?  I was sitting on my porch the other night.  As it began to get dark, the lightning bugs came out.  At first, it was just a few, but as the darkness increased, the little flashes of light did as well.  It was then that it hit me; part of God’s nature is to be playful.  Who else could have thought of a bug with a light up tail?

Think back to chasing fireflies in your own backyard as a kid. When they illuminate, you run to them.  However, by the time you get there they are gone…at least from that particular spot.  Then you see the flash again and you run again, giggling all the way.  It is a triumphant moment when you are finally able to catch one of these little lights.  Sealed up tightly in your hands you run to anyone who will watch and show them the amazing thing you have…a bug with a light.  Sometimes they crawl out and take flight again twinkling like the stars in the sky, only closer.  A holy game of hide and seek, created just for us by our playful God.  All the flickering becomes a beautiful backdrop for children to run, play and laugh.  There is something about the laughter of children.  It is musical with a healing quality about it.  It tells us not to take life to seriously and to enjoy it while we can.  It causes us to stop and see the joy in the little things…like bugs with light up tails.

The deeper meaning?  I think you know.  His truth is something we have to seek after.  We run towards it when we see it.  The light is all around us, though sometimes it is illusive.  The lesson is that there is joy in the journey.  It is not supposed to be hard, but fun to find the treasure God has so creatively provided for us.  We simply have to take the time to look.  Sometimes it blends into our surroundings, until the moment of the flash when we see it briefly, just long enough to become curious.  Next, we look more carefully waiting to see if the light we saw will reappear. When it does, we run to find the truth he has set before us and delight in our ability to capture and hold it.  We study it quickly lest it take flight before we fully grasp it. Once we have seen it and shared it with those around us, we release it to hunt for another. All the while, he delights in our search and in the fact that his ways cause us to seek him diligently, again and again. Hide and seek. Each truth builds on our knowledge of him as we learn more of his playful nature…through nature.

When you are diagnosed with cancer, it is like being thrown into a boxing ring with the heavy weight champion of the world.  The first punch, “you have cancer,” takes your breath away as you realize you are in the fight of your life.  Nothing prepares you for this fight; fear is in the forefront.  It is in this moment, and those months that follow that the foundations of faith become the bedrock of your fight. Though, family and friends cheer for you in your corner, you are in the ring alone, with no training, battling the opponent of your life…it is hard.  To rise up and fight takes courage; to win takes a miracle. 

Our high school assistant principal Doug Smith and his wife Kay knew that miracle.  Kay fought this dreaded champion and won.  It was a sweet victory; a relief…but this opponent was not down for the count, and rose up again more vicious than ever.  This time the gloves were on Doug’s hands. It was Kay’s turn to cheer in the corner as the tag team partner of her husband.  The fight began suddenly when Doug went to the doctor because of a headache.  Test results showed brain cancer; in advanced stages, and the prognosis was bleak.  It is here, that the foundation of faith that had been built during Kay’s illness began its test.  The disease progressed rapidly, reeking havoc on Doug’s body. The treatment was aggressive, as were the prayers for a miracle from friends in the community.  What the disease did not damage was his spirit and the faithful family that surrounded this man.  To the end, they fought and faced this foe, but in the end, Doug died. Round two of this battle ended this past Thursday at 9:00. 

At the funeral home, there were slides that showed pictures of Doug’s life.  He lived it to the fullest, hiking, taking trips, and fishing with friends. Even with his illness, he worshiped God from his chair as friends played music around him.  He treasured each moment, a lesson learned from his wife’s battle.  He was a dedicated educator in our community that loved working for the good of the students he served.  He was a husband and a father to the family that loved him dearly.  He is buried, his well-worn Bible by his side…a man of faith that trusted God with his very life.  It does not seem right that Kay would survive her fight only to loose him to his.  This is where the hard questions come in and the platitudes go out.  There are no easy answers when grief is so near. Faith is shaken to the core, as hope flickers and fades, and then sparks again.

Round three will come, and we know already that the Lord will win that battle.  No tears, no pain, no sickness, it will be a glorious day. On that day, cancer will be no more…knocked out by God’s Champion. Until then, we remember Doug as another victim of the heavy weight.  We respect his fight.  We honor his life.  He will be missed in our schools and by his friends.  We pray for his family as they recover from this fight and ask that God would hold them close to his heart.